The Dunnottar School Playground is in need of attention! At the moment the space is made up of patchy concrete with only one piece of play apparatus. It is grey, noisy, overcrowded and there are few opportunities for creative play. This project wants to change that! After consulting pupils, teachers and community members, we want to create a space that 'celebrates the local', that brings some of the beautiful Stonehaven landscape: the harbour, sea and woodlands into the school grounds. We hope this will mean the playground becomes a hub for both the school and community- a place where people can be inspired, play, garden and forge strong friendships.

With successful funding * we plan to have zoned areas in the school, carefully labelled with Olly the Otter signage. These zones will include a woodland area with ferns, bird-boxes and a tipi, a friendship bench, and also a quiet, meditative coastal area with a boat, sensory planting and benches. We also envisage having a wall of mirrors and an art area with murals created by pupils and community members. We also hope to use some of the wall space for vertical gardening.

The school is also wanting to extend the time the children spend learning outdoors by building an outdoor classroom. Outdoor learning has a positive impact on the mental and physical health of children and stimulates learning. We are applying for funding for new outdoor maths and science equipment that will encourage the school to increase lesson time outside.

Additionally we would like to update and renovate existing play apparatus- fixing the specialised flooring by the obstacle course and adding bamboo to give it a jungle vibe and shelter us from the Scottish wind...brr. We also plan to build a dedicated bin store and paint the existing planters and benches in brighter, more vibrant colours.

We are excited about the positive impact these changes could make to both the school and the community. We hope you do too and will support our project! Thankyou.